Gwen and Hilary's Concert Tour of Chile

Festival Entrecuerdas, October 9 - 20, 2013

Our last day

It is our last day in Chile...
This was an incredible trip. Gwen and I are convinced that the warmest people in the world are in South America. A culture where people hug and kiss as a general everyday greeting, where they sign their notes abrazos, besos, and cariños, and where people really care about their fellow humans. The tour was incredibly smooth, and we were well taken care of, from the airport personnel arranging a fee taxi for us the first day, to the lovely and generous couple, Juan and Dolores, to healthy food, great accommodations, easy transportation, smooth set ups for shows, on and on. For me, and I think for Gwen too, the best part is the people that we met here that we will always treasure.

Español

We are actually speaking Spanish here, well, some Spanish, some faking, lots of sign language. The people in Chile don't as a rule speak English, so it is necessary to know a little just to get by. The biggest challenge is that we need to speak Spanish in our concerts, to announce the pieces and explain them a bit. I wrote out my Spanish to start, but then just started talking without any notes. I spent a few months with spanish learning CDs and books from the library, and working through some iPhone apps. Our trip to Spain was helpful too. It was actually quite gratifying to say something in Soanish and hear a little murmur in the crowd of understanding ( at least I hope that's what the murmur was:)
Gwen is getting more and more proficient through the last two weeks, and she announced her own solos. She is always so outgoing when talking in our concerts, but Spanish is so new to her. This is the first time that I have ever heard her sound shy (este es...) it was very sweet. I think the people are happy when we try to communicate in their language.

Alberto

Alberto Cumplido is the director of the festival, a composer, guitarist, artist, poet, film maker, and he probably has even more talents that we haven't even seen yet. I think one of his joys in life is bringing together musicians from all countries and cultures, and sharing music with others, especially those who don't necessarily have opportunities to attend concerts. All the Festival Entrecuerdas concerts are free to the public.

Ignacia

Ignacia is a gem, and so much fun to have on this tour. She is a student at the University of Talca, and she has lived in the US as well as Chile. She is completely fluent in English and Spanish, and often helps translate for us. She is a great support at our concerts, and she is in charge of media and posters. We love her energy. Here she is on our tour of a submarine in Valdivia.

Café

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I find it so amusing that while people in Seattle are so intent on finding the perfect blend of South American coffee beans for their daily latte, that this is actually what they serve at breakfast in South America.

Los Perros de Chile

The dogs in Chile run free, take naps on the sidewalk, and just hang out as part of the landscape...

Paola

We could not have a successful tour without Paola. Paola is Alberto's girlfriend, and together they run a very smooth tour, taking care of all the details so that all the musicians really only need to think about is the music. She takes hundreds of photos, keeps up the publicity and the Facebook page, sells our CDs after the concerts, makes fantastic food when we go to Alberto's house, and generally makes sure that we are all comfortable throughout the tour. She loves that we are all women musicians on this part of the tour, the first time in the 13 years of the festival.

Gwen and Frida

Gwen found her soul sister on this trip. Frida is a violinist from Chile who is playing baroque music with Alberto. She is warm and wonderful and very funny. She reminds me a little bit of Christine Lavin; she always has funny stories about her every day life, and brings a bright enthusiasm to everything she does. Gwen and Frida found out that they have children the same age, but even more of a coincidence, they went to the same music school University at the same time, studying the same instrument with the same teacher! It is a very big school, so they don't remember each other from that time, but they had an instant connection with each other. They sound beautiful playing Bach inventions together.

Springtime in October

Shopping in Santiago

Gwen and I stayed with Juan and Dolores in their beautiful Santiago apartment in between Isla de Maipo and Valdivia. Dolores took us on a tour of Santiago to see the many beautiful sights, as well as to the place where she volunteers to help those in need . We also went to see the church where she and Juan got married, which is where her youngest daughter also got married. We stopped in some craft shops, and there was a mother and her 14 year old daughter working together. So sweet, reminded me of Emma.

Elodie and Virginia

Elodie Bouny (from France and Brazil) and Virginia Yep (from Peru and Germany) are the two other guitarists on this part of the tour (besides Alberto Cumplido, the director of the festival.) They are both virtuoso musicians and composers, and wonderful, fun companions on this tour. I am honored to share the stage with them!

Dinner in Valdivia

Valdivia

We are in Valdivia now, our last stop on the tour. It is beautiful, right on the water, and although we have heard that it often rains here, today was a beautiful sunny day. After the ten hour (overnight) bus ride (big sleeper bus) to get here, we took a walk along the waterfront. There were lots of crafts people out with their wares, and sea lions out sunbathing ( very amusing). We walked through the town and picked up the local papers and magazines with articles and photos about the concerts. We might play in a school tomorrow during the day, I don't know for what age, just that they are "niños".

Concerts

We had some wonderful concerts. The first night was at Penachue, Gwen and I played with two wonderful women guitarists, Virginia Yep of Peru and Elodie Bouny from France and Brazil. They played mostly their own compositions, and they are both virtuosos and very original. We are thrilled to offer concerts here of all women musicians for some of these concerts! The second concert was at the University at Talca, and the third was at the Pablo Neruda House museum in Isla Negra. All the concerts are free to the public. The other performers are Alberto Cumplido and Frida Ansaldi, baroque music for guitar and violin, a flamenco group, and a guitarist from Iceland. I don't have photos of Gwen and me playing, but Paola, a women in charge of the tour, has lots of photos. I'll see if she can email them to me so I can post them. Last night we all played together for the last piece that Gwen and I play, Libertango.

Mom and babies at the farm

Our room at the farmhouse

Today's lunch at Pablo Neruda House

Reineta is the name of the fish.
Lucuma is the name of the fruit in the crepe.
La comida estaba muy deliciosa!

Juan and Dolores' vineyard farm

Our sleepover at the beach house, Isla Negra

I took the middle bed, like one of Emma's sleepovers..

A la playa

Photos from Isla Negra, Casa de Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda House

We played in the Pablo Neruda House last night, a very beautiful house and museum on the seaside. Gwen and I played last on the program, and everyone joined in on Libertango! Great fun! We are staying in a beach house, Gwen, Elodie and I sleeping three across on mattresses and fold out beds on the floor, like one of Emma's sleepovers! We had breakfast at the museum, where they brought us tea and coffee and toast and a huge plate of pastry desserts! Today is a day off, no traveling or concerts. We are going to take a tour of the museum today. Lovely day!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

But with a happy ending.
We have arrived! Chile was not the easiest country to enter. After a long but fairly smooth and uneventful 24 hours of flights, we came into this new country, eager to have our passports stamped and start our adventures! I saw the board with the American flag icon, and thought that we should stand that line. A very assertive uniformed woman directed us to another line. Following her direction, we waited in that line for about an hour. When we got to the front, the person at the passport counter told us we had to pay a fee first, and that we had to wait in the original line. After we waited in that line for another hour, along with other people who we met in the first line, we went to get our passports stamped, but we were told we had to fill out a form that we had never seen before. Another long line was forming again, but Gwen and I went back to the window, finally got our passports stamped, and then had to go find our luggage ( at this point it was three hours after we landed.) At baggage claim a couple of very cute uniformed dogs took a great interest in my blue backpack, and a very nice uniformed woman asked if I had chocolate in my bag (you are not allowed to bring food into Chile). The thought of chocolate sounded really good, but after a thorough search of my bag, no chocolate or any other food appeared. By now we were really hungry and tired, and the airport workers were very kind and helpful, brought us to our bags, helped us out, and got us a taxi for free (they couldn't find us the hotel shuttle which we later found out leaves every half hour.) But now we are here, and we had the rest of the day to nap and practice and get settled. Tomorrow we meet our fellow musicians and companions on our tour!